|
| ©NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/ Science
|
| A false-color image shows the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. The picture combines infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope (red), visible data from the Hubble Space Telescope (yellow), and x-ray data from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (green and blue).
|
Astronomers have used an interstellar "mirror" to solve the longstanding mystery over what kind of supernova created Cassiopeia A, one of the brightest radio objects in the sky.
Cass A, as the object is often called, is the expanding remains of a stellar explosion about 9,000 light-years away that is believed to have occurred around A.D. 1680. Until now no one has been able to pinpoint the exact nature of the blast.